A DOGS LIFE WITH LIONS

And all that Jazz...

Jazz is a little cross breed of Staffie and Border Collie blend. She came from the Animal shelter in Harrismith in 2014 after her stray mother had been fatally hit by a car and she and her siblings delivered via cesarean section.  Jazz is 2 weeks older than Taai, but being a dog, and not a lion, she has always been smaller. The size difference was not as disparate though, when they were still two babies sharing a dog basket. Jazz successfully chewed her basket into pieces and then proceeded to move into Taai’s bed with him.

She used her nips and Border Collie genes to herd him and stay on top. Sometimes she even sat on top of him literally. We would laugh at this saying to ourselves that it would not last as the lion outgrew the dog, but it lasted, even when Taai was a sub-adult, he and Jazz carried on as if they thought they were twins. They sat bolt upright alongside of each other on the back seat of the car, their heads at a similar level. They did not notice as he expanded, his head gaining height until he could no longer sit upright on the back seat at all and her head only reached up to his knee.

Jazz however forgot Taai during the two years he was held up in a custody battle, she made new friends, moving on, ever forward, ever seeking new companionship. She is a busy and curious dog. She wants to be wherever the action is, working alongside of the frontline team. 

Every day when Line steps out of the tent to go to work, or to the gym, whether leaving on foot or by car, Jazz is by her side. Jazz preempts the departure and is ready waiting at the end of the deck judging by body language or other signals, whether to jump into the bakkie or to begin running down the path.

If it is me going out to fetch meat for the lions or check fences, Jazz swiftly changes course and leaves Line to accompany me. She is a work dog and chooses her person according to the task at hand.

Only one or two lions love Jazz, but she is loved by many people. None of the lions still live even part of their day outside of an enclosure as they have all grown up and no longer need us in the way some of them did as cubs. She has a ‘through the fence’ relationship with Carl and briefly catches Mela’s attention sometimes if Mela is feeling lonesome.

The lions are used to seeing her running along, next to whichever human being she has glued herself to on any particular day, but they ignore her. Except for Carl, he loves her. He and she look at each other, she lies across the lawn from his fence, chin on paws and watches him. He lies in his long grass or atop a boulder watching her. They are perfectly relaxed, for the most part they communicate silently via eye contact, but every now and then they vocalize and both jump up turning this way and that as they talk in moans, barks, grunts, dramatic head tosses and rubbing of heads on the ground. Then just as quickly they each lie down and quietly watch the other from their separate spots in the sun.

Yesterday she joined me on an expedition to fetch a horse that had broken its leg and been put down. We drove past Sterkfontein dam, she looked out longingly. I do not know how she knows what we are passing whilst driving, she will be curled up on the seat alongside of me sleeping and then in an instant be standing up barking at the road ahead just as a hare dashes out in front of us.

Line is Jazz’s person. Jazz chose her above everyone else. But as I have already mentioned, many people love Jazz. She likes nothing more than to be given refuge on somebody’s lap. She tells them a whole sorry tale of woe and despair in which she is desperately seeking warmth, love and oh, just a little bit of attention from a stroking hand. Time and time again she is believed. I generally leave her to it. If every person we meet wants to give Jazz a lap, so be it. She has been winning people over since she could talk (with her big brown eyes). I only put my foot down when 9 out of 10 of our guests want to take her back to Europe and some even cry that they know not how the poor dog will survive when they have left. Well I can assure you that the moment guests leave, Jazz is out at work during the day. She returns to Line’s constant lap every night. She sleeps in her fleecy bed under my desk, or in her other fleecy bed next to the window or in her other fleecy bed in the bathroom or just simply on a fleece in front of the heater.

Deep down in Jazz's soul, is a content, independent, well rounded being. She decides where she wants to be and what she wants to be doing and she just quietly gets along and does it.

It is a dogs life living on the side of a mountain with endless trails to run, dams to swim in and jobs to do.